Does anyone have any conditions update for the Rockpile Lake Trail (#4005) on the south side of Mt Jefferson??
Is there a good trail bench to follow, or has it been overtaken by the brush after the fire like the Jefferson Lake Trail is??
Spoke to the Ranger Station today but they are unsure.

A friend of mine from Sisters who is a retired National Park Service Ranger has been working on de-brushing this trail, from what I've deduced from his Facebook posts, the trail is pretty overgrown with Snowbrush but they have been working on pruning it back. I don't think they've gone very far, but I'll reach out to him and see if I can get some more detailed info.

Man, that east side of the Mt. Jefferson Wilderness could use some serious trail TLC. It's a damn shame that the USFS has allowed the bulk of the trails to fall into total disrepair.

YIKES
So happy I asked, thanks so much Kevin.
I thought the trail would be rough, but it looks to be fairly impassable after the work done by the volunteers.

Not surprised to see the "trail abandoned and does not exist" sign posted in that one picture.
Helps explain why the Ranger Station had NO IDEA that this trail even existed.
No record in their trail register of the trail name, nor trail number.
Looks like the USFS has definitely abandoned this trail for sure.
Shame on them!!

The Forest Service are letting these trail resources disappear due to neglect, while simultaneously making it harder and harder to visit other, more popular trails in the same region. They help to create a problem (crowding into some areas by abandoning trails and roads) and then penalize hikers for visiting the places that remain. Go to the the Mt Jefferson Wilderness now, while you still can.

Ha, ha. Good try on bring the blame back to the people. Sounds like something a politician might say.

People don't elect federal congresspersons or presidents...PACs do. It's all about the money. Four years ago about 2 dozen Republicans lined up to seek the presidency but by the time it got to the Oregon primary, only one candidate had enough money to get their name on the ballot. Even the deep pockets of the Bush family could't get Jeb past the first few primaries.

So here we are 4 years later with two dozen Demos running for the presidency. How many do you think will have enough PAC money stuffed in their pockets to get their name on the Oregon primary ballot.

I wouldn't say that we elect these people when our choice is one and only one person int he primary. It's not that different than Russia where you have a choice of one and only one person...the only difference is that in the general election its between (1) the guy that says s/he will represent you and (2) the guy from the other party who you know won't represent you.

Give me the whole two dozen choices and I'll agree that we had some input in the process.

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